


Distress

by Sherlock1110, sherlockian4evr



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Biting, Bondage, Canes, Collars, Dom!John, Dom/sub, Dominance, Established Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Fucking Machines, Gags, Handcuffs, Hoods, Johnlock - Freeform, Kneeling, Leashes, M/M, Post-Episode: s02e02 The Hounds of Baskerville, Punishment, Sub Drop, Submission, corner time, sub!Sherlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-06 12:21:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12211197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlock1110/pseuds/Sherlock1110, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlockian4evr/pseuds/sherlockian4evr
Summary: Dom!John is furious about sub!Sherlock's attempt to drug him during their Baskerville adventure, but Sherlock just doesn't understand why. He decides to teach his sub a lesson.





	1. Trouble

John stood at the doorway to the flat and stared at the detective, lounged back on the sofa.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Don't what me, boy, I told you I'd deal with you when we got home." He waved his hands around. "We're home."

Sherlock huffed, then sat up, leaning his forearms on his knees. "I still don't know what your problem is. I solved the case. Henry got 'closure', the murderer is dead, illegal research was brought to light. I'd say the entire venture was a success."

John let his eyebrow raise, "Don't you use that tone with me, you brat. Get on your knees."

"But-"

"Now!" John barked.

Sherlock's body responded immediately, dumping him on the floor before his mind could catch up. It looked to be a good thing too from the expression on his Dom's face.

John made sure to lock the door, then paced into the sitting room, his hands behind his back.

"Look down, Sherlock. You know the rules."

The detective still didn't look down. He hadn't done anything wrong, dammit!

"Boy!" John snapped. "Unless you plan to use your safe word, do as I say."

"But, John, you are being-"

The doctor cut him off with a slap, the cuddly Dom John gone in a second. "Bow your head!" He assisted his boy by grabbing a handful of curls and doing it for him. "I don't care that the drug wasn't in the sugar, just in case I haven't made myself clear. It was your intent and willingness to drug me that has me so pissed off with you."

"John-"

The older man honestly had no idea why Sherlock insisted on pushing him. "I don't care what you have to say, boy. I don't want to hear it. I don't know how you could do that to me and then laugh about it."

"It was funny," the sub said, sounding defensive. "Besides, you were never in any danger. I made certain of that. I told you, I watched you the whole time under controlled conditions."

The sub honestly didn't see a problem with anything that had happened and when John had warned him he'd be 'dealt with' when they got back to London, he thought he'd been joking.

"What is it with you?!" John shook his sub's head side to side by the handful of curls he was still holding. "You caused me distress. Me. Your Dom. Do I need to explain what a Dominant is to you? I would have thought you knew that seeing as your sooooo intelligent."

Sherlock tried to duck his head, beginning to understand. "Sir-"

"No. Don't speak. Don't even try it. I don't want to hear it." John paced the room a couple of times, then stopped back in front of Sherlock. "Get your damn clothes off, then kneel in your corner."

"But, John-"

The doctor huffed, snatched his collar up and wrapped it around his neck, tightening it up slightly more than normal, then he attached a leash and dragged his sub to the corner pushing his nose into it. "You're in enough trouble as it is. Don't add to it by talking." He held him there by his head as he stripped him of his suit and launched it across the room.

Sherlock matched his Dom's huff and John just sighed heavily, trying to work out if he was overreacting or not. Fuck no, he decided. A sub shouldn't treat his Dom in such a way. He went and fetched the handcuffs out of Sherlock's coat, then came back and cuffed his sub's hands behind him.

Sherlock made a point of yanking his hands in the small metal rings.

"Don't, Sherlock. Just don't."

"John, you are overreacting."

"That's five with the cane for talking. Care to try for ten?" the Dom asked with arms crossed. "Because once you get me started, I'll be happy to keep counting."

Sherlock stopped speaking and waited a moment for John to turn it away, then glanced over his shoulder to see if John was being serious. He spotted his Dom immediately, stood a few feet behind him, arms folded. "You're intent on pissing me off."

No, he was intent on solving the problem of the pissed off Dom. He turned his head quickly back to face the corner, quite satisfied that John was serious.

John turned his back, wanting to test how far his sub was willing to go, and he needed to check on Mrs. Hudson, so he set the sitting room camera on silently and stepped out of the flat. After a few moments, Sherlock turned around in the corner and sat on his bum. Despite knowing that his Dom was serious, he still didn't fully understand why. Clearly part of it was tied up in their Dom/sub dynamic, but there had to be more than that. He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling, thinking. He was so lost in thought he didn't realise John was near until he heard the key in the lock. At that, he scrambled to get back in position just making it before the door opened.

John hummed to himself as if satisfied that his sub had behaved, but he already knew the truth from the app on his phone. As he walked into the front room, the detective had managed to get himself back into the corner.

John walked over and grasped Sherlock's cuffed wrists, pulling them up his back in an uncomfortable manner. "I thought I told you not to move whilst I was out?"

"I didn't, sir."

"Excuse me?"

"Well… my knees hurt, so I shifted slightly, sir."

"Shifted slightly, my arse." John pulled out his phone and pulled up the footage, then held it in front of Sherlock's face.

As Sherlock watched the screen, his face fell pale as he realised what he was watching. "Sir, I-"

John slipped his phone back into his pocket, kept one hand on his uncomfortably placed wrists and shoved him face first into the wall.

Knowing he had well and truly fucked up by moving whilst John had left the room, Sherlock went very still. At least this was the kind of thing he could understand - he had broken a rule.

The kneeling sub had no idea how long his arms were pressed up his back, nor how long he was pressed into the wall, but John still seemed incredibly pissed off. "I apologise, sir. I shouldn't have moved."

John finally released him. "Go to my chair and lean over it with your arse stuck out."

"John-"

"Now!" The Dom barked so loud Sherlock jerked.

The detective scrambled across the room as quick as he could with his hands still cuffed where they were.

He always felt ridiculous in this position when he knew punishment was coming. It was positively humiliating. He hated that worse than the punishment itself - almost.

John watched him for a moment, then settled in Sherlock's chair.

The sub glanced across at him.

"Don't even move!" John snapped, springing to his feet to find suitable motivation.

Walking over to the umbrella stand, John withdrew the cane and approached where Sherlock was poised. He tapped it on the floor a few times just for the sound of it. When Sherlock flinched, John smirked. Then went back to the armchair. He rested the cane across his lap. "I want to be sure you understand what you've done wrong, boy. Explain your transgressions to me. Use simple words that even Anderson could understand."

Sherlock frowned, shifting slightly. He felt his cock wiltering against the sofa and he shifted his wrists. "I moved."

"What was that?" The doctor hissed.

"I moved, sir."

John barked a laugh. "That's what you choose to focus on? Bloody hell, Sherlock! Baskerville and the damned drugs!"

Sherlock began to straighten up, but John whipped the cane out, making him flinch. "For a genius, you are an absolute idiot! How did you like it when you couldn't explain what you saw? You went more than a bit mental as I recall. Didn't THAT teach you anything?"

"John, I didn't-" This time when he tried to straighten up, the doctor was up like a shot, pressing him back down.

The sub didn't move. He'd underestimated John's level of anger again. It wasn't as though he had actually drugged his Dom. He'd only thought he had. That should count for something. He was technically innocent.

John watched as his boy questioned everything that had happened over the last few days. He saw the moment that Sherlock decided he wasn't in the wrong and it infuriated him even more.

John took a deep breath. "Back in the corner. If I deal with you now, I will hurt you." He knew he was too angry to use the cane at the moment. He waited until Sherlock had got back into the corner, then stood to pace. Normally he would have stormed out of the flat and gone for a walk when he was this upset, but he daren't leave Sherlock alone, naked and cuffed and he wasn't about to uncuff him nor tell him to put his clothes back on. He was absolutely furious that his little brat of a sub had no idea what he had done that was so bad.

He decided to make a spectacle of it and paced around the room in the same way Sherlock would when he was bored. He went up and over the coffee table.

It was surprisingly effective. Each round John made of the room made Sherlock more and more nervous. The sub felt like he was a spring being wound too tight.

Occasionally John made a point of stamping on something heavily or whipping the cane through the air for the satisfying hiss. When he had calmed down sufficiently, he grabbed Sherlock by the curls and dragged him into the centre of the room.

"John-" Yet again, the sub tried to talk to the older man, despite the ache in his knees and arms where he'd been knelt, cuffed, for so long.

The Dom shoved Sherlock forward, back into the floor. The sub lay there, slightly stunned. He hadn't predicted John's reaction.

"Stay there!" The doctor barked.

This time, Sherlock didn't dare move.

When John reappeared, he knelt beside his sub and cuffed his feet, then he pulled his knees back and began chaining his feet to his hands.

Sherlock swallowed hard. Just as he was about to say something more, his Dom wedged a gag into his mouth. It was a ring, the gag John specifically knew infuriated his sub, there was no sexual gratification from it at all. Oh, the potential was there, but he knew John wouldn't be using it in that manner, not as angry as his Dom was.

Sherlock was surprised when the back of his newly placed gag was also attached to the rather tighter than normal hog tie, making his neck strain back uncomfortably.

Despite everything, the sub refused to give his safe signal. He had too much pride for that. Then again, maybe too much pride wasn't the problem. Maybe his unwillingness to back out was through stubbornness.

When John had his sub suitably trussed, he collapsed back in his chair and simply starred at him for several long minutes.

Sherlock stayed still for a while, but soon found himself bored and began shifting.

With a heavy sigh, John got to his feet and disappeared for a moment. He came back with a cock cage and fitted it to Sherlock quickly, then tied it back between his legs to where his feet and hands were tied.

The sub could feel drool leaking down his chin from his mouth where he was gagged. He hated the sensation since it served no purpose but to humiliate him. The whole situation of where he was, was humiliation too. In the middle of the floor. He hoped the doctor had shut the door and locked it, but he wouldn't bet money on that.

John reached out with his foot and tipped Sherlock over so he rolled from his stomach and landed on his side, then he propped his feet up on him.

Sherlock glared up at him, as he was left bent back uncomfortably.

"Don't even try it, boy. Or shall I fetch you a blindfold, maybe a full head mask?"

The detective shifted his eyes away, but he didn't manage it for long. Soon his glare was back on his Dom, full force.

The doctor rolled his eyes and fetched the hood. As he yanked it over Sherlock's head, he pushed the small fake cock between the ring. It was nowhere near long enough to be sexually stimulating.

With the ring gag in his mouth, he couldn't bite down on the small dildo like he longed to. As frustrated as he was, he would have bitten it in two and John knew it. The doctor just watched and laughed.

"You've had that coming," John grumbled, yanking the straps tight behind his boy's head.

Sherlock grunted his displeasure at the handling which earned him a slap on the thigh.

John reached onto the chair behind him where he had dumped the posture collar that had been just out of Sherlock's sight. "I think you're finally starting to get how pissed I really am," he said as he wrapped the collar around his sub's neck. He buckled it up behind Sherlock then fell back on the sofa, kicking his feet up onto his boy's side.

Sherlock had finally begun to see that he must have done something more than a bit not good. He just wished he could get inside John's head so he could understand it. He knew struggling at this point would only add to his discomfort, and even he had to admit, he was aching already.

Why was it so simple to look at a stranger and deduce their life history, but he couldn't deduce what had upset John so much? No, that wasn't right. He knew what had upset his Dom, he simply didn't understand why. He considered giving his yellow safe signal to ask. He didn't. He knew how John would react if he tried to safe word out of the situation just to ask a question, he'd be even more furious than he was now. Safe wording out of the whole thing would be the only way out of it. No, he still refused to do that.

John sat and stared at his boy for a long time, Sherlock seemed to finally settle beneath his feet, but if he thought that was the extent of his punishment he was a long way off. Picking up the cane, he prodded at his pet, poking him in various places, especially his most tender spots. He reached down and pulled Sherlock upright to his knees.

His arms and legs were uncomfortable as was his neck but John didn't care.

"Did it not occur to you, boy, that terrorising someone with PTSD might be a bit not good?"

The detective had no idea how he was expected to reply, but that certainly hadn't occurred to him. Why should it? He grunted, trying to indicate as much to John, but it was futile. He wouldn't be allowed to say another word until John allowed it.

John shook his head in an dramatic gesture. "Of course it didn't." He gripped one of Sherlock's nipples and twisted it hard.

Sherlock was glad his Dom couldn't see him, he felt so annoyed with himself.

It wasn't until the sub let out a groan that John let go. He rubbed the nipple with his thumb, then flicked it, then he moved his attention to his other nipple and gave it the similar treatment.

Underneath the hood, Sherlock squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't fair what John was doing when it wasn't meant for gratification, then he realised it was, it was for John's. He huffed to himself.

The Dom kept at it, finding little ways to add torment to Sherlock's already uncomfortable position. He knew he deserved this, now he was beginning to understand it. He had technically experimented on his Dom. If only he had a way to communicate that to John. All he could do was wait until his Dom was satisfied. With how pissed off John was, he knew it would be a while. And it would seem like forever with how uncomfortable he was.

John cupped Sherlock's bollocks in his hand, weighing them, then he closed his hand around them. He began to squeeze. The more he did, the more Sherlock tensed beneath his hand.

Before long, Sherlock heard himself trying to beg despite the ring gag and small dildo that was stuffed in his mouth. He hated how garbled it all came out.

John watched him closely, then glanced at his hands. The boy wasn't clicking so he wasn't going to let up, he deserved to be punished, even more so for making things worse on himself by moving in the corner.

Sherlock began shaking all over, sweat breaking out across his forehead. Soon, the hood was soaked through. Seeing that, John finally released his grip.

Sherlock relaxed as much as he could in his taxing position, even as John got to the floor and bit at his bollocks. He resorted to reciting the periodic table, but John noticed that he had gone too still and bit down hard. The detective bucked as much as his restraints would allow, John had done an extremely good job tying him up. He always did.

"None of that," John said crossly. "You are to stay present in the here and now. None of your little mind tricks or escaping into your Mind Palace."

Sherlock tried to speak. John just assumed it was something to get himself into more trouble.

"I still owe you a caning, but I don't know if you're ready for it yet."

Sherlock didn't know how to respond. If he kept still, John assumed he was breaking other rules by hiding in his head. If he didn't, then he would likely be in trouble for that too. He couldn't help letting out a groan of frustration.

John tipped him back over on his side, just letting him fall.

He grunted as he fell, but it didn't hurt. He didn't land difficultly, there was no way he could with the way he was tied.

Again, John worked his hand between Sherlock's legs. This time he tugged on his boy's caged cock. Because it was attached to his hands and feet he let out a long groan as his whole back strained.

After several seconds of keeping him in the increased stress position, John relented and let go, much to Sherlock's relief. He gave him a few seconds then grabbed his cock again.

Sherlock was beginning to regret his actions, but it was because of this, not what he had done wrong.

"Maybe if I keep this locked up for a month, it will get through to you," John said, giving Sherlock's cock a shake.

Sherlock bit down on the fake cock in his mouth, in frustration. This wasn't fair! The next thing he knew, the hood was being ripped off of him and John had grasped his chin firmly.

"You still don't get it," the doctor said after looking into Sherlock's eyes.

The sub tugged yet again at the way he was tied. He didn't know why he felt the need to do it, more so when John was staring down at him like he was right now.

"For a genius, you're an idiot." John shook his head. "You're not getting free until I decide to let you go."

Sherlock closed his eyes and John grabbed his curls.

"Stop. Hiding. Or I will double the strokes of the cane you will receive."

With a puff of air exhaled around the gag, the sub opened his eyes. He hated the cane. There was nothing arousing about it. The thing bloody hurt.

John smiled as Sherlock's tenseness seemed to revert, his muscles going relaxed.

"That's better." He patted Sherlock on the head. "Now, I'm going to undo some of these restraints, but for my own purposes, not because you deserve it. It's simply impossible to cane you the way you're trussed up."

Sherlock held himself steady, but made sure to seem alert. He didn't want his Dom getting the wrong idea.

With deliberate motions, John disconnected Sherlock's collar from the hog tie, then he released the connection that held his wrists to his ankles, but he left his cock chained to his feet so Sherlock felt the strain as his legs straightened of their own accord. It was enough to make him think twice before moving.

John didn't care if his boy was uncomfortable. "Go lean over my chair, arse up."

Sherlock shook his head. If he tried to move, it would hurt. A lot. He wasn't going to try.

Picking up the cane, John tapped Sherlock's arse lightly. "I don't care how much it hurts. Move."

Sherlock glared up at him and John closed his eyes. He reached down, snagged the brat by his curls and tugged him as roughly as he could manage across the room.

The sub positively yowled at the rough treatment, or he would have had he not been gagged. As it was, he made a muffled sound of pain. Still, he didn't use his safe signal. John had kept an eye out for it, despite knowing he wouldn't use it.

With his hands still cuffed behind him, all Sherlock could do was flop when he was pushed over the edge of the chair. He lay there, breathing heavily through his nose as he tried getting on top of his pain. Just as he started to achieve it, the cane came down hard directly across his sit spot.

Sherlock yelped into the gag. Rather glad he had it to stop his yells.

John paced around his sub and around the chair he was lent over. He used the cane to prod at his boy's bollocks and caged cock, then he pressed the end of it against Sherlock's exposed hole.

Sherlock ground his teeth as best he could, wishing that John would hurry up and get it over with.

The next blow fell across the sub's thighs, making him grunt in pain. He suppressed the urge to pull away when John pinched the red welt that had risen up.

Sherlock squeezed his eyes completely shut and grunted through the next several blows. When he heard the clatter of the cane on the floor, he began to hope he was near the end of his punishment.

The bright red welts beckoned to John and he reached out to pinch each of them in turn, then he cupped the right lobe of Sherlock's ass. He squeezed it tightly and then stepped back to whack it with the palm of his hand.

The detective made a pained noise despite his gag and bucked, his arse shifting to the side.

"Oh, no. Get that posh arse back where it belongs," John said as he repositioned Sherlock. "Now, don't move. I'm going to get the lube. You have a pounding coming to you."

For once, those words filled him with dread rather than anything else. He would have complained if he could have done.

"Move!" John snapped, whacking his arse again. "Now."

Sherlock got back in position. He listened to John move around the flat, getting more nervous as he waited.

He found himself fighting the cuffs just as John turned around.

The Dom sighed heavily. He set up the fucking machine behind the younger man and chained his collar to keep him down.

The detective wanted to sob. He didn't want to be fucked by the machine, he wanted John, but his Dom never fucked him out of anger.

The doctor opened Sherlock as quickly and efficiently as he could, his touch clinical at best. He pressed the dildo inside his sub and sighed. Before turning it on, he stepped out into the hall and shut the door, dialling Mycroft's number. He found himself unsure of what to do.

At the sound of the door closing, Sherlock felt sick. Surely John wouldn't leave him like this. No, of course he wouldn't. The machine hadn't been turned on.

"John?" Mycroft's tone was panicked immediately, the doctor rarely rang him for anything, never for something good. "What is it?"

"Mycroft. It's Sherlock, I don't know what to do with him. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing."

Miles across London, Mycroft sighed and dry washed his face. "Baskerville didn't go well then."

"You knew it wouldn't. You sent Greg to us after all." John shook his head even though the government official couldn't see it. "I need a break, Mycroft. I've already caned him and I'm still furious. Can you watch him for me?"

"Of course. I'll be right over. Are you sure you don't want my Dom instead?"

"No. No, you will deal with Sherlock better than Greg could right now."

After they exchanged a few more words, they both rang off. John shoved his phone in his pocket and braced himself to go back into the living room.

He was almost glad when he saw Sherlock struggling to free himself on his return. It made leaving him there with his brother that much easier. It also made it easier to turn on the fucking machine. John walked over and flicked the switch, then watched as the dildo pistoned in and out if his sub's hole.

He fell back into his arm chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment, then he dropped his head and stared at his sub instead.

Sherlock knew he was being watched by his Dom. He could practically feel John's eyes upon him, but he knew it wasn't heated with arousal. If it was, John would be speaking to him or shifting in his chair trying to make himself more comfortable.

Shortly, a knock came at the door and Mycroft peeked in. "Hello, John." He stepped into the living room, closing the door behind him.

Sherlock groaned at the sound of his brother's voice, but he couldn't look up to see him and glare. He settled for glaring at the wall.

John stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for coming, Mycroft. I really need a break."

"No problem at all."

John got to his feet and stretched. "Don't move him, don't turn the machine off. Besides that, you can do what ever you want. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

With one last look at his sub, John left the flat. He had a lot of walking and thinking to do.

* * *

It must have been several hours since John had left.

Sherlock was left trussed up and sweating as the machine kept up its relentless pace. Mycroft was pacing up and down in front of him, holding the gag he had removed from his brother's mouth.

"Stop it!" Sherlock snapped. He couldn't stand Mycroft's relentless pacing. All he wanted was for John to come home.

"I can put this back in, little brother."

Sherlock groaned as the machine brushed his prostate.

"What is the point of you?" Sherlock hissed. "Walking around, acting important."

"Do you not understand your situation Sherlock?" Mycroft barked, coming to a halt in front of him. "Your Dom has gone."

The detective groaned. "Don't say that." He felt tears prickle his eyes.

"You're fucking lucky you have a decent Dom. Any other would have disappeared without telling someone."

"Where's he gone?"

"I don't know."

Sherlock sobbed. He honestly hadn't thought he was doing anything wrong when he had tried to drug John. If only he had understood.

Mycroft resumed his pacing. "Honestly, Lock. What were you thinking?"

Sherlock was struggling to put together a conscious thought with the machine still working behind him, but he sniffed. "I needed to know."

"At any cost?"

Sherlock's eyes widened as it dawned on him. The price could have been his relationship with John. Or worse. What if he had genuinely hurt John? What if he still lost him to his anger?

Mycroft stopped when he realised Sherlock had given up, he'd fallen still and understanding grew on his face

"Myc… what have I done?"

More tears fell as Sherlock felt his brother's hand fall on his curls. He didn't want Mycroft's sympathy, if that's what the gesture was. He wanted John, no, he needed him.

The door squeaked and Mycroft stepped back immediately. "John?"

Sherlock couldn't move his head, but he closed his eyes.

"You heard all that," Mycroft pointed out.

John sniffed to himself. "I've been stood out there for the last half an hour."

"Why?" Mycroft asked.

"What?"

"Why come in now?"

"He was still fighting you half an hour ago." The Dom crossed to stand beside Sherlock. "Now, he may just realise the gravity of what he did. At least a bit." He placed a hand on the detective's back. "Have you, Sherlock?"

"Yes, sir," Sherlock whispered, completely still where he was tied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir." This time is was a sob. All he could think was how horrible it would have been if he had had to go on without his John. He couldn't have done it. His heart would have broken.

John ran his hand through Sherlock's sweaty curls and flicked the machine off with a remote he pulled from his pocket. He left it bottomed out inside of his sub to keep him still. The whole time he watched Mycroft.

"You are brilliant with him, did you know that?"

"Sir?" Mycroft asked dumbly.

John closed his eyes. "Come over here and kneel." He could see Mycroft approaching 'drop and sighed. He needed to call Greg. There was no way he could handle both Sherlock and a sub in drop.

He felt responsible and not a bit guilty he was going to leave Sherlock with the machine rammed into him for a few minutes more. He sat in his chair, pulled Mycroft's head to his lap and dialled Greg's number.

A few minutes later, the DI came up the stairs two at a time and burst his way into the flat. "Oh, Mycroft. I'm here, pet."

The government official raised his head and looked in Greg's direction, eyes glazed.

"What happened?" Greg asked the doctor, with a sideways glance at the still trussed up detective.

"I knew Mycroft would get through to him. I knew he was the only one who could."

Greg held his sub close to his chest as he crouched down beside him.

"I didn't think it would affect him quite like this."

Greg frowned. "Me neither." The DI scooped up his sub in his arms, tucking Greg's head under his chin, then he sat down on the sofa. "Shh. Hush, pet. I'm not going anywhere."

John paced towards Sherlock quietly and briefly ran his hand through his hair. "You can use the room upstairs if you like," he offered the DI.

Sherlock, in a shaky voice, asked John, "Is Mycroft going to be alright, sir?" He didn't care about himself anymore. Nothing his Dom did to him could be worse than him being the cause of his brother going into 'drop.

John just sighed, not answering. He went around the machine and began to edge it free.

After a few minutes, Greg lifted his sub up and headed for the door. "We'll see you in the morning."

"I-I'm sorry, sir," the detective said, his voice thick with regret. "I swear I'll be good. I'll never experiment on you without your permission. Never. Never, never, never."

John just shook his head, smiling sadly. The horrible thing was, he knew in a few months when Sherlock had forgotten about this, he'd likely do the same thing again. The thing was, John knew he would be there to deal with it when Sherlock did.

 


	2. Epilogue

"Babe, what is it?"

Sherlock had been sat in his chair for the last several hours. Many people he didn't know shuffling around him and clearing up the mess of the explosion.

Sherlock shook his head. "I don't know what to feel. My own sister did this. A sister I couldn't remember at the time." He gave a shudder. "Then she treated us like lab rats- like-" He broke off, remembering something John had tried to teach him years ago after the incident at Baskerville.

The Dom seemed to realise what he had been trying to say. He smiled sadly and dropped to his knees in front of him. "Yes, what you did was bad. Terrible. But it's not the same."

"I didn't know. I'm just like her." He sat in stunned silence, only hearing the sound of his sister's voice singing in his head.

"No!" John told him, an urgency in his voice. He had to get through to his boy. "Do I love you?"

"Of course."

"Damned right I do. And I could never love someone like Eurus."

"But that's not-"

Grumbling under his breath, John got to his feet, pulled sherlock from the chair by his curls and forced him to his knees at his feet. "You are my boy. You are not like her. That will never change."

John's words meant so much to the sub that he clung to his Dom's legs desperately, needing the reassurance. "Thank you, sir."

The Dom could tell, this time, he meant it too.


End file.
